There is something about coffee ice cream that just makes me so happy when I eat it. (Especially if it’s in a waffle cone… YUM!). I decided to whip up a batch of coffee flavored ice cream. Most recipes that I have found tend to use instant coffee in their ice cream base. I decided that I wanted to try something a little different, and create my coffee flavor using a batch of one of my favorite flavors of coffee, Cafe Verona.
Since I was using freshly ground coffee beans, I thought to myself, “Hey! Just how coarsely should I grind this, and how much?”. At this point, I just shrugged and did a fine grind that equaled about 1/2 cup. For myself, I love the taste of strong, dark roasted coffees (especially since I usually drink my coffee black), and adding extra grounds in a regular pot of coffee has always been something that I’ve done. I would suggest adjusting the potency of coffee according to your own taste.
For some reason, when I started mixing the grounds into the heated cream, I figured it would dissolve… kind of like dutch cocoa. Instead, I had a weird raft of warm coffee grounds, floating on top. It looked terrible, but smelled so good. I decided to strain this mixture before tempering the eggs to prevent graininess. This worked! I got most of the larger grounds out, and the mixture looked much smoother than it did before straining. Back into the saucepan, and I let it thicken over low-medium heat. Of course, the mixture was still flecked with a good amount of ground coffee beans, so I figured, one more strain before going into its cooling container might not be a bad idea.
The end result (after the cooling, chilling, freezing, ice creaming)? A really thick, creamy coffee ice cream that has bits of amazingly delicious coffee nibs strewed through it. Again, adjust the coffee flavor to your own palette… because what I made, is definitely not for the faint of heart!
honey-vanilla and coffee ice cream
Coffee Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup freshly ground coffee beans (fine ground if you want flecks, coarse if you want smooth)
3 large egg yolks
1. Combine cream, milk, sugar and coffee grounds in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
2. In a large bowl, lightly whip egg yolks.
3. Strain the cream mixture into a separate bowl. Discard any loose coffee grounds.
4. Temper* the eggs with the hot cream mixture.
5. Return the mixture to the saucepan. On low-medium heat, stir the mixture constantly until slightly thick (you can tell when this is done when it coats the back of the spoon.) Be very careful with this… DO NOT BOIL!!! You want to have a thick, custard like cream, not scrambled eggs.
5. Strain the mixture one more time, and let it chill to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 4 hours so the mixture is completely cool.
6. Follow the instructions provided with your ice cream machine.
